With Russia actively dumping US dollars and buying gold at the fastest paced in decades, the writing is on the wall when it comes to what the Kremlin thinks of any possibility for a detente in the painfully strained US-Russian relations. And with Russia now clearly seeking to end monetary ties with a dollar-denominated “west”, […]
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The Delphic Oracle Was Their Davos: A Four-Part Interview with Michael Hudson: Mixed Economies Today, Compared to Those of Antiquity (Part 2)…
Michael Hudson: There are many degrees of how “mixed” an economy will be — meaning in practice, how active its government sector will be in regulating markets, prices and credit, and investing in public infrastructure. In the 20thcentury’s Progressive Era a century ago, a “mixed economy” meant keeping natural monopolies in the public sector: transportation, […]
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NYC to Charge Commuters $11.50 to Enter Midtown Manhattan, Trucks $25…
New York City commuters and workers from across the region will soon pay a steep price to enter midtown Manhattan, with Big Apple officials confirming over the weekend they plan to introduce “congestion pricing” to help off-set the massive MTA operating budget. “Motorists entering Midtown Manhattan below 60th Street will be charged a toll, which […]
Lyft and Other Gig-Economy Giants Cash in with IPOs Before Labor Laws Catch Up with Them…
Gig-economy companies Lyft, Uber, and Postmates are racing to file IPOs this year, a mad dash replete with ever-increasing multibillion-dollar valuations. But is the rush to start trading on the public markets also a sprint to evade compliance with current labor law? Recent financial and lobbyist filings suggest that the gig-economy giants are hoping to […]
Consumer Sentiment Jumps as Americans Report Best Income Gains Since 1966…
Economists had expected the final read to match the preliminary reading for March of 97.8. Consumers were more positive about both their present conditions and their outlook for the future, according to the survey. The March gain was entirely due to households with incomes in the bottom two-thirds of the income distribution, according to the […]
Two Whistleblowers Awarded $50 Million in “Massive Enforcement Action” Against JPMorgan…
The SEC today announced awards totaling $50 million to “two whistleblowers whose high-quality information assisted the agency in bringing a successful enforcement action.” The whistleblowers provided information that helped the agency win a $267 million settlement with JPMorgan over claims that the bank failed to inform wealthy clients of conflicts of interest in managing their […]
International Trade Court Rejects Challenge to Trump’s Steel and Aluminum Tariffs (PDF)…
The United States Court of International Trade (full pdf below) has rebuked a global industry challenge to President Trump’s Steel and Aluminum tariffs. The court told the multinational trade association they lacked any authority to override the sovereign authority of President Trump, and his absolute right to apply a national security (section 232) declaration to […]
Nomura: “BOOM, Roasted: The Fed’s “Clown Car” Experiment Is Now Complete”…
In the aftermath of the Fed’s second consecutive dovish capitulation, which while framed as a response to the slowing economy (a slowdown which the Fed completely missed as recently as December when 9 FOMC officials expected 1 or more rate hikes and now expect 0) but was really meant to support assets, many have taken […]
Central American Migrants Are Sending Billions Back To Their Home Countries…
Foreign nationals from three Central American countries that send some of the highest numbers of illegal immigrants to the U.S. are sending back a record amount of money to their home countries. Immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras sent back a record $120 billion in remittances this decade, according to an immigration expert who […]
Turns Out That Trillion-Dollar Bailout Was, in Fact, Real by Matt Taibbi…
Last summer, Washington Post “Fact-checker” columnist Glenn Kessler wrote that the Medicare for All plan favored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) would cause “providers” to face an “immediate cut of 40 percent in their payments.” The piece was quickly amended to reflect that the cuts only referred to private insurance payments, leaving Medicare recipients untouched. […]
A Summary of the 2019 Economic Report of the President…
In accordance with the Employment Act of 1946, the purpose of this Report is to provide the U.S. Congress with “timely and authoritative information concerning economic developments and economic trends” for the preceding year and, prospectively, for the years ahead. As required by the Employment Act, the Report also sets forth the Administration’s program for […]
The Death of Globalization Accelerates as Global Trade Declines…
The change in total global exports has now gone negative. Barron’s has an interesting article How Investors Should Navigate Globalization’s Decline. A decadeslong drive toward freer trade across borders has begun to reverse. Globalization is being overwhelmed by populism, nationalism, and protectionism. “Brexit threatens to erect new trade barriers between the United Kingdom and the […]
The Guardian: “Ending climate change requires the end of capitalism”…
Capitalism has to go – but apparently we shouldn’t listen to unhinged claims from the “pro free market” wing that the climate action movement was always just a Communist Trojan Horse: “Policy tweaks won’t do it, we need to throw the kitchen sink at this with a total rethink of our relationship to ownership, work […]
Volkswagen to Create 1,000 New Jobs in Chattanooga Expansion…
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe along with Volkswagen AG announced today that Chattanooga will be home to the company’s first electric vehicle manufacturing facility in North America. Volkswagen announces Chattanooga will be the home to the company’s first electric vehicle manufacturing facility in North America. This […]
A Look Back at How Reforming Wall Street Failed So Miserably Under Obama…
Progressives have every right to harbor a seething contempt toward the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress in the last two years of George W. Bush’s presidency as Wall Street blew itself up and Congress passed the massive taxpayer bailout of the Wall Street mega banks. (Democrats held […]
President Trump Tells General Motors and UAW to Get Their Act Together – Lordstown Ohio, Auto-Plant…
Calling attention to the brutally obvious is a key element to President Trump’s use of Twitter. In this example President Trump (the business executive) highlights how GM is shutting an Ohio auto-plant at the same time multiple auto manufacturers are expanding operations in the U.S. President Trump tweete – “Just spoke to Mary Barra, CEO […]
Toyota Solidifies Its Substantial and Growing Investment in U.S….
For over 60 years Toyota has been growing its manufacturing presence in the United States, and today the company announced it will exceed its 2017 pledge to invest $10 billion over five years with a new commitment to reach nearly $13 billion over the same period. Part of that commitment is seen today with an […]
OPEC Threatens to Kill U.S. Shale…
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will once again become a nemesis for U.S. shale if the U.S. Congress passes a bill dubbed NOPEC, or No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, Bloomberg reported this week, citing sources present at a meeting between a senior OPEC official and U.S. bankers. The oil minister of the […]
‘Jackscrew’ Found at Ethiopian Crash Site Confirms Boeing 737 Max Was Set to Dive…
Having seen the satellite-based trajectories of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max jetliner before its crash, it was clear, as one experienced pilot noted, that “something was extraordinarily wrong.” And now, as Bloomberg reports, a screw-like device found in the wreckage of the Boeing Co. 737 Max 8 has provided investigators with an early clue […]
On the Death of My Family’s Dairy Farm…
This Christmas, like every other, I traveled to northern Wisconsin to stay with my parents on the dairy farm I grew up on. As usual I took the opportunity to help my dad and younger brother with barn chores and milk cows. The cows need to be milked twice a day, every day, roughly around […]